Emer­gency ex­perts

St John’s vol­un­teers are ded­i­cated to the job

FOR more than two decades three peo­ple have been in the back­ground ready to help the Monto com­mu­nity in any emer­gency sit­u­a­tion.

For the 25 years that St Johns Am­bu­lance has op­er­ated in Monto, Peter Pick­er­ing has been along­side Col and Claire Har­ris.

Th­ese three vol­un­teers have been a wel­come sight for young sports men and woman who have re­ceived at­ten­tion from true first aid ex­perts.

Mr Har­ris said there were only two ru­ral towns in Queens­land which had a St Johns base.

“Monto and Black­wa­ter are the only two ser­vices in the ru­ral ar­eas of the state but there are sev­eral in the Bris­bane area,” Mr Har­ris said.

“We have at­tended sport­ing events the length of the North Bur­nett and out to Theodore.”

Ac­tive in Australia for more than130 years, St John Am­bu­lance Australia is a self-fund­ing, char­i­ta­ble or­gan­i­sa­tion ac­tive in all states and ter­ri­to­ries , ded­i­cated to help­ing peo­ple in sick­ness, dis­tress, suf­fer­ing or dan­ger.

Mrs Har­ris said she and her hus­band had been to­gether through the thick and thin and serv­ing the peo­ple of their com­mu­nity had been their life.

“I met Col when he came to my mother’s door look­ing for some­one who could help him ad­min­is­ter first aid in the com­mu­nity,” Mrs Har­ris said.

“Mum told him that she had three daugh­ters who might be able to help him out and he picked the right one.” Pro­vid­ing ser­vices to a broad scope of the com­mu­nity, St John Am­bu­lance Australia is the coun­try's lead­ing sup­plier of first aid prod­ucts, ser­vices and train­ing.